How Sun Number Score Decides My Home’s  Solar Potential

Sun number score can be a new term for many individuals switching to solar energy. Therefore, it is essential to understand how sun score contributes to calculating your home’s solar energy production potential.

Sun Number was developed by Zillow in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sunshot Grant. The aim was to spread awareness to homeowners if their home is suitable for solar panels.

This scoring system lets you check the sun number score for your home by entering your address and learning the energy you can save by going solar.

There are a few additional factors that determine a solar number which can be a bit overwhelming if you are not a solar energy expert. Therefore, in this guide, we will explain how you can calculate the sun number score of your home and make an informed investment.

Sun Number Meaning: Understanding the Term Better

A sun number is a rating from 0 to 100. The number represents whether your home is suitable for solar panels or not. 0 is the lowest number which means your home is not a suitable candidate and 100 means you can go green without any second thoughts.

Solar numbers are very important before committing to solar panels because they represent how feasible is your home for solar panels. If you are looking to buy a house, install solar, or consider solar energy to go off-grid, must check the solar score for your home.

If you have ever searched for a solar panel in home on Zillow, you surely have seen how they list homes. Zillow not only lists the structure of the building, its square footage, and yards but also lists sun number. They listed Sun’s score for 84 million homes which shows how important it has become over time.

A higher sun score also means that your home can save sufficient money on electricity bills. It also adds to the overall value of your property.

So, make sure to calculate the sun number score for your home if you are planning to sell or rent it as Zillow analysis shows that homes with solar energy systems are sold 4.1% more than homes without the system in the US in 2019.

What Is A Good Sun Number Score?

The Sun Number Score is scaled from 0 to 100. A score of 70 or above is considered high and makes your home a good candidate for installing solar panels.

No home in this world is a perfect location so getting a score of 100 is nearly impossible, but that does not mean you can not have solar panels.

Sun number score is just a snapshot of your system’s possible output and any challenges that may arise during the process of installation. It helps the homeowner and the installer company better understand the design of panels and the estimation of energy-saving goals.

What If The Solar Score For My House Is Not Good?

If your home score is not good, it does not mean you can not have solar panels. Solar score just tells you how feasible it is to install and run a solar system on your home, and if your score is low it will need a little extra effort to pull a better output.

For instance, if your home scores 60 on the solar number scale, the installer may need to design a system that can still provide better energy production and decrease electricity use, all they have to do is install panels, on different sides of the roof.

If you live in an area where the utility services are unreliable, it is wise to go solar even if you score less than 70. You can also consider installing panels that are enough to charge a solar battery so you do not have to use grid electricity at night on overcast days or you can use the stored energy during an outage.

If your region has more sunny days even a poorly located or shaded home can produce enough energy with a little thought-through design.

So, your sun’s score today does eliminate you from the race of using solar energy as it is just a way to better understand your property’s value.

Factors That Contribute to Sun Number Score

Four factors make a total sun number score, Building score, Regional Climate, Electricity Rate, and Solar Cost. Each component has individual scoring and impacts the overall suitability of a home’s sun score.

1. Building Solar Score

Building score is the major part of solar numbering as it measures the suitability of solar panel installation in a home. It has a maximum score of 80, anything less than 50 makes your cases weak, so your score must be above 50.

A roof’s pitch, orientation, size, and shading are evaluated to score your home. More roof area means more solar panels and high output. Similarly, if your roof has no shading it is an ideal place to install solar panels.

The direction of the roof is also significant in this scoring. South-facing roofs are most like to get better sunlight which further adds to the energy production of a home. If your roof directly gets sunlight, the panels can generate excess energy. You can either store the surplus energy in solar batteries or return it to the city’s grid for bill credits.

Roof pitch is another factor to consider for building scores. Your roof pitch should be 30 degrees for maximum output. Otherwise, tilt brackets can be used to adjust the pitch to the right position.

Lastly, No home can completely fit this criterion therefore, Sun Number uses 3D imaging of your home to get the best estimate of your building score against these ideal conditions.

2. Regional Climate Score

RCS has a maximum of 8 points. Regional Climate majorly affects the amount of sunlight your roof gets. If you live in an area that has more sunny days such as Texas with 136 sunny days per year or Colorado with 300 sunny days per year, there is a greater potential of generating sun energy.

Sun Number relies on irradiance data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to calculate the Regional Climate Score for your home.

3. Electricity Rate Score

The electricity rate score has a maximum score of 8 points. Sun number scores are also affected by the rates of electricity in your locality. If your area has high electricity the Sun Number will be high and your home will become a good candidate for the solar energy system.

On the other hand, if the rates of the city grid are low the electricity rate score will be low. The reason behind this is that with low electricity bills, installing solar systems just looks like a hassle and less appealing investment.

4. Solar Cost Score

Solar cost score just counts for 4 points in the total Sun Number score. Solar cost is inverse to the Sun Number. The higher the cost of solar panels in your area the lower will be the sun score.

The Sun Number evaluates the solar cost of your area through NREL. If the cost of solar panel installation is less in your locality, the Sun Number Score will be higher, which means your home will better qualify for cost-effective long-term electricity solutions.

Final Analysis

Sun Number score not only gives a better idea if your home is ideal for going green but also puts a better price on it. Every day, solar score is becoming a more demanding factor in the sustainable energy industry.

If your sun score is better, the whole process of solar installation will become easier and the return on investment will be high. If it’s low, your installer will need to do a little extra work to adjust enough panels to generate high output.

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